The Outliners
by Pineapple-ninja16
Summary: What if the rebellion never happened? Elisha Bailey, Jodie Ann Frostbite and Jordan Paisley, are three girls who are selected for the 101st Hunger Games, who meet on the train to The Capitol. When they discover that each of the lost a parent in the last Quell, they form an alliance, adding Blaze Tesla, an ex-Career from District 4, soon after. However, only one can win the Games...
1. Prologue

**Miranda Frostbite's P.O.V**

There are 9 of us left. I'm running through the ruined city alone and night's falling fast. I'm surprised I've made it this far, but then again it's only the second day of the games. The bloodbath killed 13 people and 2 were killed today.  
I am in the 100th annual Hunger Games; a Quarter Quell.  
"As a reminder to the districts of all the children that were killed due to the uprising, this year parents will be reaped to compete in the Hunger Games," President Snow had said.  
When my name, "Miranda Frostbite!" had been called out, the sound echoing eerily across the district, I'd only thought of how I would die.  
My daughter, Jodie Ann, should be watching right now, back home in District 12. She's turning 13 years old soon and there's virtually no chance I'll be there for her on her birthday. She'll be an orphan by then, without me or her father, and with no siblings she will be very alone.  
Thinking about Jodie has made me lose focus on my surroundings, so I was unaware, until now, that I'm being followed.  
I try to dodge it but I'm too late and a few seconds later I feel a sharp pain in my back. I stumble and fall onto the hard, concrete ground. I pull out the knife and cough. Blood splatters everywhere and the man who threw the original weapon looms over me with 3 more knives, each more deadly than the last, ready to strike.  
"Take care of yourself Jodie," I whisper out loud. I hope she hears me.  
I close my eyes and wait for the end.


	2. Chapter 1

**Elisha Bailey's P.O.V**

"Elisha Bailey!" Bronte Crowsmith shouts. Cool potatoes. Bring it on.

I walk forwards, towards the stage. Bronte holds out her hand to help me up the stairs but I ignore it and go up by myself. She looks at me with pity.

I can see my little sister and my mum staring up at me, in shock. Sofia's only 12 so my mother would never let her volunteer, even if she wanted to. Although it's not like I really want a replacement. I'd feel guilty about it forever if they ended up dying.

My dad isn't here to see me get reaped; he's already been killed, in last year's Quarter Quell, where the twist was that parents were sent into the Games instead of children. I bet this year's reapings were rigged so that the kids of the tributes from the Quarter Quell were chosen. Assholes.

My name is Elisha Bailey, as Bronte just announced, I am 14 years old and I live in District 11, which is probably the largest district in Panem. I have long, dark blonde hair, that's usually loose, like it is now, and I'm about 5 ft. 4. I can run pretty fast- although I'm better at short distances- I'm good at climbing trees and I'm reasonably strong too, what with all the forced labour we do around here.

I think I have a decent chance at winning this thing.

Nobody volunteers for me; not that I expected it. I've never exactly been good at making friends...

Bronte walks over to the other oversized, glass bowl, this one filled with boy's names, and pulls out a slip, but I'm not really concentrating on who it is. A tall boy, who I don't recognise, comes out from roughly where the 17 year olds stand.

I don't want to have to kill people. The whole idea scares me. What's even worse is that in nearly 2 weeks I could be dead. I have to kill though, otherwise I'll die. Kill or be killed. I don't understand how anyone wouldn't go mad in that arena. Actually, now that I think about it, a fair few people have gone crazy in there. I wonder if I'll go mad, from all the dead people everywhere...

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting our tributes from District 11, for the 101st annual Hunger Games, Elisha Bailey and Luca Howard!" So that's his name. Luca and I shake hands and Bronte Crowsmith leads us into the crumbly, old Justice Building and we're led into two separate rooms where we'll say goodbye to our families.

I don't really cry in sad or scary times. I'm only shocked or freaked out; usually hysterically laughing from the latest near death experience I've just escaped. Sometimes I'm not even that. But never any tears. I haven't cried for years. So while I sit on the little couch, rather than crying and being a wimp, I think of what everyone else must be doing right now. Of how many people will actually come to say goodbye to me.

I'm not very popular at school, so I don't think anyone other than my family will come. I'm correct. My mum and my sister are my only visitors. The peacekeepers kick them out after 5 minutes and then I'm on my own.

Bronte comes in with Luca saying, "the train will be here in 10 minutes so we have to head off to the station." We walk outside to where I can see an immaculate black car. It looks very expensive too. I'm surprised the Capitol cares about us enough to give us a car in general, but a fancy black one? Wow. They must have a larger budget this year or something.

The car ride takes about 5 minutes and we are at the train station almost before I know it. Reporters swarm the station like tracker jackers around a person that's disturbed their nest. We stop just outside it.

"Now, Elisha and Luca, we have to make our way through the crowd as quickly as possible," Bronte tells us, in her weird, Capitol accent. "Also, I thought you might want to know this, but the train is travelling through all the districts this year, with all the tributes on the same train, so you might want to get to know them. It's something the Capitol thought up to cause a little more excitement in the Games and promote more alliances."

Yay… We get to meet our opponents early... I knew something was up when they gave us a fancy car.

They're practically forcing us to make friends with the people we eventually have to kill.


	3. Chapter 2

**Jodie Ann Frostbite's P.O.V**

We pull into District 11 smoothly and quietly, as though trying not drawing too much attention to ourselves and yet, everyone outside stops and stares at the train.  
"Jodie Ann! Where are you?" calls Effie Trinket, our escort.

"Over here!" I yell back, feeling slightly annoyed. I just want to sit alone for once...

"Oh, good, I need you in the main cart to welcome your fellow tributes on board," Effie says, poking her head through the door. She's wearing a very bright orange dress, bright pink lipstick and a bright red wig in an afro style. Not exactly matching but I don't think anyone from the Capitol has any idea of how weird and scary they look. I think the colours are supposed to be like fire, to match the usual Opening Ceremony outfits we have to wear, but I can't really tell.

I get up and follow her into the cart at the very front. The doors are open and the District 11 tributes are on the top step, allowing the cameras to get one last glimpse of them before their trip to the Capitol.

I look past them and see a huge wide open space with the occasional cluster of houses. Next to their old Justice Building, I can see an apple orchard that seems to stretch forever. I can't even see the fences on the sides, that's how big the whole place is. I wish I could live there.

Unfortunately, however, I live in the Community Home, a terrible place for orphans in the Seam, District 12. The worst building in the poorest part of a very poor district, probably the poorest. Serious over-kill, in my opinion.

I pull my eyes away from the beautiful view thinking that probably only handful of people from 12 have ever seen this place. And now I'm one of them. As I look away from the view, my eyes pass over the snack table, crammed with enough food to feed a Seam family for over a month, and I realise that I haven't eaten since yesterday morning, the last time the people who run the Community Home actually bothered to feed us.

I stand just out of view of all the cameras, staring longingly at the table.

I've lived in the Community Home since the last Hunger Games, when my mother was killed in the Quarter Quell. I was 13 then. I don't have a father either, since he was killed in a mining accident when I was about 9.

"Jodie Ann, the train's left the station~. You can go eat now~," a male voice says. Not hesitating, I rush up to the snack table and quickly fill up a plate of food, not thinking of who it was that just spoke or how he knew I was hungry. Or why he only called me Jodie Ann, rather than Jodie as almost everyone calls me.

I realise who it is pretty quickly though.

"Kevin, you can go away now," I tell him over my shoulder, reaching for a small cake covered with bright red berries.

Kevin Baxter is my annoying and mean fellow tribute from 12. Unfortunately, he lives in the house next door to the Community Home. He's only 15, a year older than me, but a lot stronger than me. He's also figured out that if I go into a temporary quiet state it means I am hungry and have just seen food. I just went into one now so here he is. Any excuse to bully me and he'll use it.

He takes the cake off my plate and holds it out of my reach, far above my head. "Oh, can't you reach the cake?" he asks mockingly.

"Nobody likes a shorty, Jodie Ann" he says to me. I get these kinds of things enough at the Home but now it's ridiculous. We're all going to be dead soon so there's no point in being such a dick.

"And you know, if you keep eating like that, Jodie Ann, you're gonna get really f-" Kevin stops talking when a knife nearly hits him in the back of the head, actually slicing off a few hairs.

We turn and stare at the thrower, both equally shocked that a knife almost killed him. A girl, with long, loose blonde hair and a stern look on her face, comes out of the shadows of the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. She must be the tribute from 11.

"You heard her, Kevin. Now piss off."

Kevin leaves with a startled look on his face, probably still surprised that the girl almost killed him.

She turns around slightly, checking when she's sure he's gone she whispers, "Whoops!" to me.

"Huh?" I say. "What do you mean, 'whoops'?"

"It wasn't exactly supposed to get that close to his head, but, oh well," she continues. She pulls the knife out of the wall and butters a piece of toast.

"At least it shut him up," she says jokingly.

For some obscure reason, now she's got a slight smile on her face. I don't get what she's smiling about. As an inexperienced knife thrower, she could have hit and killed Kevin, or even me!

"So I just heard that your name is Jodie," she says, with toast in her mouth.

"Yeah, that's me," I say quietly, smiling awkwardly. I'm still too freaked out, after what she did with the knife, to properly introduce myself. She seems to take it as shyness or something like that.

"I'm Elisha Bailey, 14 years old and obviously from District 11."  
"My full name's Jodie Ann Frostbite, I'm the same age as you and I'm from District 12," I counter, still a bit quietly.

"Cool name, Jodie."  
"Thanks..." I reply.

"Hey, I was just thinking, seeing as we're like the same age and both in the Hunger Games, we might have other things in common." She takes another bite out of her toast. Weird conversation starter...

"What kind of other things?" I ask.

''Was your mum killed in the last games?" she asks nonchalantly. How does she know that?

"Yeah…" I quietly answer, pretty shy and sad about the fact of it. I never want my dead family to come into my conversations. "Uh, how do you know that?"

"Dude, did you even watch the last Games?" she asks sarcastically "Miranda Frostbite, District 12. Same last name as you and her dying words included your name."

"Wow. Good memory," I say, struggling to hold back the tears the come flooding through my eyes like the memories in my mind. I fail. She doesn't realise at first.

"Yeah I have a habit of remembering relatively useless things," she says stuffing the rest of the toast in her mouth.

I sob loudly. She thinks my mum's last words are useless.

"Oh shit, I didn't think this would happen," she says, freaking out when she sees that I'm crying. Something tells me that she's not personally in these situations very often. "It's okay, dude, I know how you feel. My dad died in the Quarter Quell, just like your mum did. That's what I was getting at; both of us lost a parent in the last Games," she says quickly.

This makes me calm down a little. So, she's not an insensitive rock.

Then, Effie walks in saying "District 10, coming up!"

Elisha and I both turn around and look out the window, to see never ending paddocks, stretching for miles around.

I wonder who we'll pick up here.


	4. Chapter 3

**Jordan Paisley's P.O.V**

Kate Pinsetter is getting fidgety, twisting her hands around in her lap. God, it's getting annoying. "The train should be here by now…" she keeps quietly repeating.

"So Jordan, how old are you?" she asks, attempting to start a conversation.

"I'm 14…" I reply awkwardly. I really hate talking to people that I don't like.

"And you, Adam?" she asks my fellow tribute.

"18." I can tell that he doesn't like Kate either. Kate Pinsetter is not a very nice or likeable person. And she's an idiot.

Then, from around the corner, the silver train appears, smooth as a bullet and shiny as a diamond. "Ah, here it is!" Kate squeals. Her voice is so annoying… I see Adam roll his eyes and I smirk in reply.

We get out of the shiny, black car and walk through the crowd of reporters with their cameras, filming our every move.

The reporters have us surrounded and I can barely see a metre in front of me. They're like flies buzzing around a cow's butt or something.

We practically run through the crowd, due to Kate not wanting anyone from such a low class to touch her, and so in less than a minute we are standing on the top step of the train.

In my peripheral vision I can see two girls, one with a tear streaked face- great, I hate it when people cry- and brown hair, the other with blonde hair, a knife and a piece of toast in her hand, and also one of their escorts. I can also hear some others coming down the hallway.

Then Kate shuts the door and the train starts to move again.

I go up to the crying girl, with the brown hair. She sort of looks like a much shorter version of me with less curly hair, so I have to help her, right?

"Uh, is this chick bothering you or something?" I ask her, "'Cause I can get her to go away, if you want." I glare at the blonde one. She looks me up and down, raising her eyebrows with a confused look on her face.

"No, she's fine where she is," she replies quietly. "She just mentioned my mum."

"And that's bad because…?" Adam says loudly, eavesdropping on our conversation, while walking past us to get some food from a snack table that's standing next to us. He has a habit of dong that.

"My mum's dead!" she spits back at him. Considering she was so quiet before, her voice can be loud when she wants it to be. Wow. Even blonde girl looks surprised.

Adam stands there, wide eyed and looking pretty stupid. Right now I kind of feel sorry for him but it is pretty funny. Getting yelled at by a girl who's at least 4 years younger than him, if not more.

"This would be Jodie," says the girl standing next to her, still grimacing at the sudden explosion of noise. "And I'm Elisha. Hi."

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Jordan Paisley."

"Hello," says Jodie.

"Sorry to hear about your mum, Jodie. I know how you feel, my mum's dead too. She died in last year's Hunger Games, so it's pretty ironic that I got chosen too," I say.

"It's ironic for all of us then," says Elisha, frowning.

"Her dad was killed in the last Games and so was my mum," says Jodie.

"I have a theory," Elisha says thoughtfully, "that they purposely reaped children of tributes from the Quarter Quell, just to make it more exciting or something."

"Well it kind of makes sense," I say. "I mean, it _is_ the Capitol..."

"Yeah, and it'd cause more fear in the districts to kill off whoever's left in the torn families," says Jodie. "It's like they're saying, 'your parents just died, how about we kill you too?'."

"Hey, what can you guys do that could help in the Games? I reckon if we're all good at something useful we should form an alliance," Elisha suggests.

"It'd be a huge 'fuck you and your plans!' to the Capitol," she continues, smirking.

"And maybe one of us could sort of avenge the deaths of our parents," I say, pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah, that too," she laughs.

"I'll go with it," Jodie says.

* * *

The next 2 or so hours pass in a blur as we talk about our lives and what abilities we can use in the upcoming Hunger Games. We could pretty much write a book on everything we talk about. Turns out that we can all climb trees pretty well, Elisha is good at spear throwing and Elisha and I can both use swords. I can use a pistol but they don't have guns in the Hunger Games.

The cart we used to be in is now full of people, filling their stomachs or watching reruns of The Hunger Games on TV, so we now sit on a couch in the District 12 cart at the far end of the train.

We can hear the door open to let the tributes from District 1 coming aboard.

"Welcome!" we hear one of the escorts say from the main cart.

The escorts stopped getting us to welcome the new tributes on board at around District 7. They must have figured there were enough people around the main cart for them to get at least one 'Hey' from the others.

"Wait. I think our team needs a name," I say.

"Why? I've never heard of anyone naming their alliances," Elisha retorts, looking at me dubiously. "The Careers only have a name because of all the fans they get each year."

"We might get more sponsors that way. I mean, they might think of our alliance as more important and they'll remember us better too," Jodie says.

"She's right," I say, "We'll be more heaps memorable to the sponsors."

"Well if it's two vs. one then I think it's agreed that we're naming our alliance," Elisha says. "But you have to actually think of a proper name, otherwise the whole idea of naming it is pretty pointless..."

We ponder for about 5 minutes until I almost yell, "I've got one!"

"Well, spit it out then," says Elisha, clearly bored with the whole idea.

"We're all from pretty un-memorable, un-important districts on the outlines of Panem, right?" I ask them.

"No shit, idiot" Elisha says, rolling her eyes, "Now tell us the damn name already!"

"Okay, calm down!" I say loudly back to her, holding up my hands in surrender, "The name I came up with is 'The Outliners'. A simple group made up of three people from some of the outline districts who just want to be noticed."

"Nice description," Jodie says.

"Well, as weird as this is, it's settled. We are 'The Outliners'," Elisha says.


	5. Chapter 4

**Elisha's P.O.V**

"Girls, now is the allocated time to speak with your mentors before you go to bed," says Jodie's escort, coming in the door with Jordan's escort and my own.  
Jordan and I get up from the couch.

"I'll see you guys later," Jodie says, smiling slightly at us.

"Actually, you won't see each other until your training sessions, in two days time," Bronte Crowsmith says.

"But what about before the Opening Ceremony?" I ask her, "We should be able to see each other then, right?"

"I don't think you'll be able to talk to them, sweetie" she replies, looking at me with pitty.

"Technically I'll still _see_ them though," I reply, smirking. Bronte frowns at me for being a smart ass. Ah, another satisfied customer.

"Well then, I'll see you guys at the Opening Ceremony," Jodie corrects herself, smiling more and waving goodbye to us.

Jordan and her escort leave for their district's cart and Bronte leads me away into ours, which is the cart next door.

Luca is standing outside one of the doors on the right side of the corridor, looking up at us with annoyance. It's not as though we were later, so I don't know what his problem is...

As we enter, one of our two mentors speaks, "Welcome to the Hunger Games, Elisha Bailey and Luca Howard. This is the occasion that will determine the course of the rest of your life. However long that may be."

Shit. This is where it all begins.

* * *

An hour, or so, later we are on the subject of alliances.

"Alliances can be useful during the beginning of the games, but if you find yourself in one, you'd need to leave after a few days or less," says the female mentor from my district, Tiana.

"You should probably try to avoid alliances as much as possible. If you become too close to the people in them, you will find it almost impossible to kill them if you end up in the finals together," Mason, our other mentor, says.

_Whaaat_, I'm not in an alliance~ You know, aside from the fact that I'm part of the Outliners with Jodie and Jordan. Also, I think Luca's in an alliance too, but I can't be sure.

"Or, they could abuse your trust and kill you while you sleep," Tiana says nonchalantly. "That's generally what happens to Career groups that survive too long together."

"Uh, both of us are already in alliances…" Luca says, confirming my suspicions. I wonder who's in his? It's probably just another ragtag team like ours, with people from outline districts.

"I have good aim, I can throw spears and I can use a sword. I'm also a pretty strong physical fighter," I answer.

Luca hesitates for a moment, before saying, "I can use a sword and I can throw knives."

"Now, the question is; how good are you? The difference between the fact that you can hit the target every time or you're slightly off is very important in the Hunger Games," Mason warns us.

Bronte comes into the room, preventing us from answering. God, this woman has terrible timing...

"Time for bed!" she calls into the room happily, "Sleep is very important for every tribute." She said that last part a _bit_ too brightly for my liking.

"Sleep isn't important for the dead," I say under my breath and Bronte frowns at me again. Wow, 3rd time in one day, I'm on a roll here.

* * *

As usual, I find it hard to sleep, so I end up rolling around for a few hours before giving up and getting out of bed.

I walk down the corridor and move through the door and onto the District 10 cart. I keep walking, all the way up to the main cart, until I hear several voices.

They're mostly guy's voices, but I can hear two or three girls in the group. The voices are talking about tactics for the Hunger Games. Ha, a few people clearly don't wanna listen to their escorts' orders, do they?. Then again, I'm out of bed myself, so I can't complain.

I stop so that they don't hear or see me.

I realise it's not just anyone when someone brings up who's going first on their kill list. Most ordinary tributes just talk about survival, not who they're gonna kill. Most tributes try not to even kill anyone. This group is obviously the Careers.

"We should kill that girl from my district first. During the talk with our mentors she mentioned a few good skills that she could use against us, so she's probably our worst threat out of all the other tributes. We've got to stop her before she can get any weapons. I also know she's in an alliance too so that makes her even more of a threat." My eyes widen in shock.

The voice belongs to Luca; my co-tribute is plotting to kill me.

I kneel down, crawl quietly forwards and peek around the corner, hidden by a tall fake pot plant. I can see that Luca and the Careers sitting around a small table. There are more people than I originally thought there were, a total of 9 tributes.

There's Luca, Kevin from 12, the boy from 10 and then, what shocks me the most out of everything I've seen and heard in the last 5 minutes, 6 people that look far stronger and healthier than anyone I've ever seen in person, aside from the escorts. It's quite amazing to see such young people looking so alive, considering the fact that what I'm used to is malnourished child slaves.

How could he? How could Luca do this to District 11? If he makes it through the Games he'll be shunned from society purely for the fact that he joined the Careers and even more for killing his district partner.

"I agree. She's fucking dangerous; she almost hit me in the head with a knife earlier," says Kevin, the guy from Jodie's district. "Although, I doubt Jodie would be able to help her overpower us. She's probably the weakest person you could possibly reap out of everyone in 12, I swear. Elisha didn't choose a very good person for her alliance." I resist the urge to go grab a knife from the snack table and slit his throat. He won't stop bullying her, even when he's planning to kill me.

"How about we just kill a few of the weaker ones first and maybe even let her get a weapon," says a girl with long, black hair. "It'll trick her into thinking she's safe from us; until, of course, we hunt her and her alliance down. If both of the idiots she's with are how you describe Jodie, then her friends should be easy enough to get rid of."

"Great idea, Sprite," says a boy from one of the Career districts. Yep, she's from District 1. No one from any of the other districts would think of a crazy name like that. What the hell is with the names those weirdos come up with?

Although at least their children end up more memorable than any of ours…

There's a blonde guy on the far side of the table who doesn't seem too interested in what anyone else is saying. He doesn't look too bad. I wouldn't even think he was a Career if he wasn't sitting with them and if he wasn't so healthy-looking. He's not exactly an eyesore either...

I move forwards slightly to get a better look at this guy, but my long hair accidentally brushes the leaves on the pot plant. I freeze in my position. Damn my stupid hair.

Please don't see me, please don't see me, please don't see me...

"Guys I think I heard something." A guy squints in my direction, trying to see past the leaves. "I think we have an eavesdropper," he says as he gets up, trying to see over the tall plant.

Please don't see me, please don't see me...

"Zack, just sit back down," a girl with straight dark brown hair says. "Even if there was an eavesdropper, it's not as though anyone could overpower all of us by themselves."

From where I am, I think I can see green streaks in her hair and when she turns back to the table I can see her hair is tied up with a ribbon with fish patterns on it. She's definitely from District 4.

"But Cleo, we're fucked if it's Elisha. I'm going to check and if anyone's there, I'll find out who it is," the guy replies, pushing back his chair.

I don't wait to see what happens after that; I crawl from my position at light speed, straight back towards the corridor. I move as quickly and quietly as I can down it and then I make my exit, through the door that leads to the next cart and shutting it behind me.

I stop and lean against the door, panting for breath. That was so close.

Then, I hear Zack's footsteps coming through the corridor. Crap, I mustn't have moved as quietly as I thought.

I sprint down the District 1 corridor and open the door on the other end, running through the corridor and the next and I keep going until I realise that there aren't any more doors to go through. I'm already in the District 12 corridor.

Well, seeing as I'm here I may as well tell Jodie about this, rather than waiting until morning.

I pick a random door on my left and open it.


	6. Chapter 5

**Jodie's P.O.V**

I walk slowly through the meadow, only stopping to pick a daisy along the way.

I love the Meadow. It's the only place in District 12 where there's any proper nature; much better than anywhere else around here.

"Finally," I hear a voice say. "here's the right room. God, it took me long enough..." What does _that_ have to do with the Meadow?

Then I suddenly come to reality, as someone shakes me awake. Ugh, I don't want to wake up. I thought Effie was much more sophisticated to wake people up like this, too.

I look out the window. I didn't think she'd wake us up before daylight either. I always thought Capitol citizens slept in.

"Jodie, wake up, nerd!" someone whispers harshly in my face. What the? That's definitely not Effie.

Some dark blonde hair falls onto my face; great, it's Elisha.

"What do you want?" I groan, blowing her hair out of my face. "I'd prefer it if you didn't wake me up so ridiculously early."

"Damn, you easily annoyed in the morning... Anyway, we're stuffed," she says, getting straight to the point, without answering my question.

"Huh, how?"

She sits down on my bed and explains everything to me; why we're stuffed (we're gonna be killed), who will cause our stuffing (Kevin, Elisha's co-tribute, Jordan's co-tribute and the Careers) and when they will stuff us (after killing a couple of the weaker tributes). She also mentions the names of some of the Career tributes (Cleo from District 4, Sprite from District 1 and Zack who she isn't sure fully of his home district).

But only one thing really stands out to me; Kevin has joined the Careers.

"I bet he'll want to kill me personally," I say to her, my head flopping down onto my chest.

"If he even gets near you, I'll kill him," she replies, grinning at me. "I've heard of two people winning before, why not now?"

"How come you told me about all of this first?" I ask her, "You would have gotten to Jordan faster."

"Well, when I ditched the main cart, I didn't exactly think about where I was going," she tells me, "I just looked up and I saw I didn't have any more doors to go through and realised that I was in your cart. After that I just checked random rooms to find you. You were in, like, the fourth room."

"Oh, okay," I reply. Elisha gets up.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"I'm gonna go tell Jordan. Wanna come?"

I get out of bed and follow her down the hallway, through the door and into her cart. We keep going down the hallway until we reach Jordan's cart.

We split up and start checking rooms. I find Jordan's room behind the second door on my right.

"I've got it!" I whisper loudly to Elisha.

"Good. We can't be out here with our district partners in the main cart. After they nearly found me, I think they'll be coming back soon."

At that moment I hear the slight thudding noise of footsteps.

"What the hell is that?" Elisha asks frantically, even though it's obvious.

We quickly shut the door of Jordan's room and run into the closet on the far side of the room.

"Jordan, was that you?" Oh thank god, it's just the District 10 escort. "I heard noises coming from your room. Are you awake?"

We hear Jordan roll over. From the groaning noises she's making, it's clear she doesn't like being woken up.

"Of _course_ I was awake, Kate," Jordan says sarcastically. "I was also talking to a mockingjay about what I should feed my cows, eating a five course meal in the process."

"Sorry... I just thought I heard voices."

"Well you obviously misheard, so just let me freaking sleep."

Kate closes the door, muttering about being polite.

"Jordan, wake up!" Elisha whispers, the moment Kate's footsteps stop.

"Kate, I thought you were going to fuck off and let me sleep," Jordan replies angrily. She really doesn't like her escort...

"It's not Kate, you idiot. It's us, Jodie and Elisha," Elisha says, shoving her.

"Is it important?"

"Very," I say.

"As long as it's not Kate, I'll listen to whatever you've got."

"The Careers are plotting to kill us," I tell her, "Namely Elisha, but we're all targets."

"Also, your district partner has joined them, as well as Luca from my district and Kevin from Jodie's," Elisha tells her.

"It's the _Hunger Games_. You two should have expected something like this. The rules are kill or be killed and no cannibalism," Jordan states.

"But still dude, it's your partner and you guys were sort of like friends. Aren't you even a tiny bit shocked?" I ask, confused about her reaction.

"Not really. People do everything they can to survive, especially in situations like this," she replies.

"Okay then, we need to sort this out," Elisha says. "I mean, these people are going to kill us."

"There's nothing _to_ sort out. In fact, we're lucky that we get to survive longer than most of the other tributes."

"The point of this alliance is to get at least one of us out alive!" Elisha almost shouts. " I'm gonna at least _try_ and achieve that!"

* * *

I walk tiredly back to bed, after an hour of arguing between Elisha and Jordan about the Games. It's hard to believe the amount crap someone can come up with, on spot, at 3am.

When I reach my bed I fall face first onto the bed, and go back to my dream about home.


	7. Chapter 6

**Jordan's P.O.V**

I wake up the next morning feeling really freaking tired.

I did _not_ like being woken up last night. I don't care how important it was, you just don't wake me up.

What makes me even more pissed off is that I wasn't woken up for something important; I was woken up by Kate, who hadn't had a very good excuse. She'd heard Jodie and Elisha talking and came to investigate; and woke me up in the process.

I wouldn't have been as angry if Elisha or Jodie had woken me up. At least they had a decent reason. But _no_; it just _had_ to be Kate Pinsetter, the annoying bitch from the Capitol.

I get my breakfast from our cart's dining room and then walk up to the main cart to see if anyone has any better food that they'd like to trade for my eggs.

I know it seems picky for someone who never has enough to eat, but I just don't like the capitol's idea of scrambled eggs. According to the escorts I've talked to it's the height of popularity to eat eggs like this. I can't get around the weird spice they put on them; I'm not sure how to say it. Aromat, I think you say it… Whatever it is though, it tastes absolutely horrible.

I meet Elisha when I get there.

We look at each other for a few seconds.

"Do you want to trade something for my eggs?!" we ask each other at the same time, holding our plates towards each other.

Elisha groans, pulling her plate back.

"So it's you, too, huh? Bronte made me try them with aromat, too. God, won't my district be proud of me, rejecting Capitol eggs like I have them every day. Chicken eggs too, not just any old groosling eggs or something."

She has a fair point; if our districts ever found out about us not wanting to eat something from the Capitol, they'd kill us. If we weren't already going to die, that is.

"I wish I could go back in time and punch myself in the face before I could let Bronte put this crap on my eggs. Getting eggs at home is almost impossible, so I've practically wasted a delicacy," she continues, hanging her head.

"Really?" I say. "We have eggs all the time, but I suppose that's because we farm chickens."

"Hey dude, what do chickens look like?" she asks. I stare at her, surprised. Is she serious? She certainly looks like it.

"Uh..." It's hard to answer, firstly, because I'm still shocked that she's never seen a chicken and secondly, because I've never had to describe one before.

"I'm sorry, it's just that we don't really get much meat where I'm from, let alone live animals," she says, looking embarrassed. "You don't have to answer if it's too weird..."

"N-no, it's okay," I stutter. "Uh, they're very feathery. Wait, you obviously know that, you've seen birds before, right?" She nods in reply.

"Um, their colours can be anything pretty much. Well, not really drastic colours, like purple or green; more like browns and whites and blacks." Oh god, this is hard.

"They have small, curved beaks..." Okay, I'm pretty much out of ideas. Wait, I've got one!

"And, this is probably gonna sound really weird, chickens' butts are surprisingly soft and fluffy..."

She giggles slightly. Haha. Chickens really bring out the human side of this chick.

Suddenly, we hear running from the hallway.

We turn and see the door at the end burst open and the other 22 tributes, including Jodie, come through it. Some people are still eating their breakfasts, too.

"Hey, what the fuck is happening?" Elisha asks.

"We're here!" Jodie tells us, "We're at the Capitol." She points at the window.

Everyone has crowded around the windows on the left side of the room, with one short boy sitting on another guy's shoulders, just to get a look at the fast approaching city.

We're the last ones to join the group, so we end up having jump constantly to see anything.

Because I'm the tallest out of the 3 of us, Jodie has to sit on my shoulders. Elisha stands on the back of a plush arm chair. How she stays up there, I'm not really sure, but she must be used to defying physics, or she wouldn't have even attempted it.

The people of the Capitol see the train and run over, quickly forming a crowd near the tracks and waving wildly at us.

In a bid to get sponsors, we wave back, although I think Jodie, and a couple of other kids are waving because they're over excited.

When the train reaches the station, outside the Remake Centre, almost everyone, inside and outside the train, cheers loudly.

Not me though. Right now I that I could fast forward time, past what is about to happen. The next few hours will be completely full of pain, for all of us.

It's time for the spa treatment.


	8. Chapter 7

**Elisha's P.O.V**

"Ah, fuck!" I yell. A crazy woman with unnaturally yellow hair just ripped off a shit ton of hair off my leg.

I'm lying down on a really cold metal bench, naked; fucking naked. Even though I haven't been in the Remake Centre long, I'm in pain from anything these people do.

"That's the fourth time you've sworn in 30 minutes of being here!" she says to me, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"I don't know what it's like in District 11, but it's unacceptable language in this society," an orange haired woman says.

"And do you remember what we said we'd do if you swore again?" a man with blue and red hair asks me rhetorically.

"Shit…" I say, just to piss them off more. Hey, it's not like they can make the punishment worse...

* * *

Several minutes later, I sit on the bench, my wrists and ankles tied together and the man's tie in my mouth as a gag. Just to top it all off, they've tied me to the bench, too. So they _could_ make it worse...

"You can't swear here, young lady," the yellow haired lady says.

"Do you realise that this is more painful than being whipped?" I ask. Or at least try to ask; this gag makes it hard to talk.

"I can't hear you~," Miss Yellow Head sings.

So you want to ignore me, huh? Bitch, try your best.

"Blah, blah, blah," I attempt to say. RRIIIPP! Some more hair comes out. I scream, but continue talking, . "Blah, blah, blah, blah, bla-"

"Shut up! Oh my god! You don't like the pain? I don't care!" she screams at me.

Everyone in the room stares at her; even me. Nice, I made her crack.

"I need some air," she says, speed-walking out of the room and slamming the door behind her. Good, go away, you annoying weirdo.

I learn the names other two after Yellow-Head's been gone for about an hour.

The man with blue and red hair is called Fredrickson and the woman with orange hair is called Marcella. Pretty weird names, but I can't complain.

The lady with yellow hair was called Koreena, but I probably won't need to know her name, 'cause Fred and Cella say she probably quit the job because of me.

When the last hair comes off my body- at least, apart from the hair on my head- I sigh in relief; that was fucking painful.

Koreena still hasn't come back so I think she probably _has_ quit.

"Time to meet Zandra!" Cella tells me. That must be my stylist. I wonder if he can make me memorable. I mean, if he can't, it would sort of defeat the purpose of making an alliance...

"Zandra is renowned all over the Capitol for her amazing clothing designs," Fred says. So it's a girl... Haha, what? I _totally_ didn't think that was a guy's name...

"She's very famous. You're lucky to have her as your stylist." If she's famous, then how come I haven't heard of her? Oh that's right, that's because District 11 doesn't get _shit_ from the Capitol!

"Well, we have to go now. Say 'hi' to Zandra for us!" they say and walk out the door. _Without_ untying me... They could have at least allowed me to get myself off this cold ass bench!

I lie on the bench, still naked, tied up, cold, and feeling like a plucked groosling when Zandra the stylist comes in.

"I am Zandra. Put your robe on and sit down over here." Wow, not even a hello? Fine then.

She sits down on the small couch on the other side of the room, placing a large silver tray onto the glass top table in front of her.

"Uh, hi," I say; through my freaking _gag_.

"Come and have lunch or starve." Is she being serious right now?

"Fucking get me down from here!" I try to yell. My eyes are tearing up from the lack of oxygen I'm getting.

She looks up and appears slightly surprised at my current condition. What, did she not see me on her way in? God, this woman must be blind or something...

"Yes, help me!" I say, attempting to roll back and forth in my position.

Zandra reaches under the bench and quickly undoes the rope holding me down. I immediately rip the tie out of my mouth and gasp for air loudly.

"It's about time!" I shout at no one in particular, still breathing heavily.

I pull on the thin plastic robe, flop down on the plush red couch and start digging into the food in front of me.

For the first part we eat a chicken- a real chicken, filled with a thick cream and glazed with this weird apple sauce that tastes pretty awesome- and for dessert we have a sort of layered thing that Zandra calls a trifle, which also tastes awesome.

Actually, both the dishes taste so great, I think might never want to eat the food from District 11 again. Hey, if I win I might not even have to.

Then my stylist says, "Now, we must to talk about your Opening Ceremony costume."

"What am I wearing for this thing anyway?" I ask her, raising my eyebrows.

"Showing you would probably be easier."

It's called a unitard, apparently, it's dark brown and it has leaf and vine patterns running around from around my shoulders all the way down to my ankles. My hair's gonna be put in a bun and I'm gonna have a dark brown wooden hair thing with bronze leaves attached. Meh, I've never been good at describing clothes.

It actually doesn't look as freakish as I thought it would be; last year's tributes were dressed as trees, with real trunks around their waists and leaves randomly stung through their birds nest hair styles.

They looked pretty awful, but judging by the stuff in front of me, I'm gonna be look as awesome as my food tasted!

Afterwards, Zandra does my hair up and attaches the hairband perfectly, somehow, and we make our way out of the room.

We get into a box thing, that's apparently called an elevator; it moves up and down the floors of the Remake Centre. I've never even _seen_ one before, let alone ridden in one, so I find it really amazing and hilarious as we move towards the ground.

Somehow, Zandra doesn't find it as funny as I do and she frowns at me, probably thinking, _'Shut up, you annoying child'_ I stop laughing, but it's too hard to keep the smile off my face.

The doors open when we reach the ground and the first thing I see is Jordan wearing a cow suit.

Oh god… She obviously doesn't have a very good stylist, just like our tributes last year.

"Don't you dare laugh."


	9. Chapter 8

**Jodie's P.O.V**

I hear hysterical laughing as the doors on my elevator open and I look towards the direction of the noise.

Jordan is standing there in a cow suit, trying to cover her face with her tail, while Elisha is practically dying of laughter about it.

"Hey guys..." I say, my eyes looking between Jordan and Elisha.

"Please don't laugh," Jordan pleads. "I told her not to, and what does she do? The exact opposite!"

She looks like an idiot so it's pretty hard _not_ to laugh.

"It's called a onesie," she tells me, "and it looks horrible."

"Aw, but you look so cute," I say, on the verge of bursting out laughing.

"Cute is not what we want right now. We're in the Hunger Games; no one will sponsor us if I look _cute_."

"It's- just- so- _funny_!" Elisha says, in between gasps.

"At least you guys look decent…" Jordan mumbles. "I look like shit."

"Onto your chariots, tributes!" a voice calls out.

I run over to Portia, my stylist, so I can have my skirt lit on fire. I hope it doesn't hurt, but apparently it's not real fire. "It's synthetic," she said, so she better not be lying.

"Hi Jodie," she says. "We've got to make this quick, you're supposed to leave soon."

"So you're sure this won't hurt?" I ask, backing away slightly from the flaming torch she has in her hand.

"Absolutely positive. We've been using synthetic fire since the 74th Games and there have been no signs that it's changed after 30 years," she answers, smiling.

"Well that's a bit more reassuring," I reply.

"Hi Portia. Cinna told me to come to you to get my cape lit." It's Kevin.

Of course, he's not wearing a shirt. Typical; the more of a tribute visible, the more sponsors. I'm surprised I'm not being forced to wear my underwear for the Opening Ceremonies.

"Hello Jodie Ann," he sneers. He's smirking, so he's obviously not just being friendly.

"Kevin," I reply, looking away.

A dark skinned man comes over to us and says, "Okay, get onto your chariot guys. You have to be on the chariot for them to see how fabulous you are!" Yeah, there's no doubt he's gay.

"I just need to light Mr Baxter's cape and then we're outta here," Portia replies. I swear, these people are the most normal in the whole Capitol. They speak normally and Cinna's just wearing normal clothes. Can't say the same for Portia, but still. I like these guys.

"DISTRICT 10!" a voice booms over the noise of the crowd.

I turn around just in time to see Jordan's chariot leave the room and the screams of adoration, as the two cows enter the sights of potential sponsors.

The room's emptied much faster than I thought it would.

"DISTRICT 11!"

I watch Elisha and her partner roll away with Elisha eating something white. Is that sugar? But that was for the horses...

"Quick Jodie! You're about to leave!" Cinna calls to me, snapping me out of my daze. I jump onto the chariot about 2 seconds before "DISTRICT 12!" is yelled out.

Outside, it sounds like a coal mine's gone and exploded.

People are yelling out praise for everyone's costumes, I can see some people fainting out of excitement, a pair of underpants flies past my face...

Wait, what? Why are people throwing underwear at me? That's disgusting!

Yep, there's someone's hat now. Oh, and here comes a shirt. This whole thing is just weird…

Finally, we come to a stop at the end of the street where President Snow starts his speech. (I'm surprised this guy's still alive. He's probably way over 100 by now….)  
"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour!" he says. That's hilarious, Mr Snow. Great joke, but last time I checked, the Hunger Games were never '_happy_', as you say... He's probably drunk anyway.

It's already dark now and I'm getting pretty hungry.

I tune out of what President Snowball says and start looking around at the other tributes. For the next 20 minutes I mentally judge how far each person will get in the Games. Naturally, I put myself as kill number 1 (I don't have very high hopes for my survival) and move onto the next person.

I laugh out loud. Jordan doesn't look too happy; once again, she's holding her tail over her face, but this time it's so that the cameras can't see how embarrassed she is.

"Aah!" I almost fall off the chariot because I'm not concentrating. Kevin snickers at me and I glare back.

We've turned around and are now heading towards the tall building that I'll have to live in for the next week.

It doesn't look too bad a place to stay. Then again, anywhere I stay would be better than what I lived like in District 12.

When the chariot finally stops I jump out and run to the elevator.

"Uh, Jodie? Where are you going? We need to tell you how you went." Oh, great, it's Effie.

"Can't we talk about it over dinner?" I complain, "I'm really hungry!"

"No," she replies firmly. "Now, come over here."

Ugh. Damn it.


	10. Chapter 9

**Blaze Tesla's P.O.V.**

Well _that_ was by far the scariest thing I've ever experienced. Apart from being reaped, that is...

My stylist is a complete dick. How could he do that to Cleo and I?

Stupid Opening Ceremonies. 'Oh, District 4 tributes live near the ocean. I know! Let's expose their tributes by forcing them to wear almost nothing and parade them in front of millions of people on live TV!'

I wander away from the rest of the group as they start talking about the chariot parade.

I saw that Elisha girl earlier, the one the others were plotting to kill. She doesn't look particularly strong, so I'm not sure what they're all worried about. But then again, no one's really sure about District 11's tributes. I mean, one is a supposedly a threat to The Careers and the other _joined_ them. Uh, us...

Wait. I can see one of them now; one of the girls from her alliance.

I've got to tell her about their plan; they have a right to know.

"Um, excuse me? Hello?" I ask, walking up to her.

She turns around to see me; a blonde boy with no shirt on and a beach full of seashells laced into his hair. Crap, she's tall. She's probably wondering what the hell I want from her…

"Yeah?" she asks, looking down at me. She's around the same height as Cleo, so I'm guessing she's around the same age as her too.

I look around for a bit, checking if anyone else is watching, before speaking.

"There's a plot against you guys, directly. Please believe me, I'm not like the rest of them," I whisper.

"Oh yeah, I know about that. Elisha told us already. There's not much she _doesn't_ know about your plan, seeing as she heard almost the entire conversation."

"So she _was_ the eavesdropper…" I mumble to myself. Huh. This Elisha girl isn't half bad.

"Yeah, that would have been her. As soon as someone heard her, she bolted and came to tell us."

"Well, at least you guys know."

"Okay, thanks anyway," she replies.

She starts to turn and leave when I continue.

"By the way, I'm Blaze; Blaze Tesla," I tell her quickly. I know, it's a weird name for someone from District 4. Most of the other Careers thought I was from 1 until I told them otherwise.

"Okay, Blaze, my name's Jordan Paisley."

"Nice to meet you, Jordan. I'll see you and your alliance at training." I nod at her and quickly walk away before any Careers see me.

"Wait a second... The lack of starvation... The decent clothing... That guy was a Career!" Jordan says to herself. "And I just told him that we knew all about their plan!"

Oh crap. I'm a Career, there's no way she'll trust me! What was I thinking? I gulp loudly and practically dive behind a wide pillar. I didn't want her to be like this...

"How could I be so stupid?! He was a Career, for god's sake!"

"Oi, Jordan!"

I look around the pole to see a blonde girl sitting on the front of her chariot and waving. Oh my god...

Jordan hits her hand against her forehead as Elisha Bailey stands up, on top of the moving vehicle and jumps off. She somehow lands on two feet though, making it look really easy.

Jordan and I gape at her and Elisha laughs at her friend's reaction.

Huh, this girl looks kind of attractive close up...

"What the hell, Elisha?! What are you on?!" Jordan yells at her.

"I dunno," she replies, shrugging. "Nothing, I s'pose, but maybe it's the sugar they gave us earlier..."

"That sugar was for the _horses_, not you!"

"Just leave her."

"Oh, hey Jodie," Elisha, waving at the short brunette walking over to them.

Jodie Ann Frostbite has come from her District 12 crowd and over to the others.

"Hey Jordan, who was that guy you were talking to just before?" Jodie asks.

"Yeah, I saw you talking to someone too. What were you talking about?" Elisha asks.

"Uh… um… that guy… his name was Blaze… uh…" Waiting for her reply is actually really scary.

"I'm so sorry, you guys! He just seemed like he was a decent person!" At least I seem nice… "I didn't mean to, but it just slipped out!"

"Jordan, shut up," Elisha says. "What did he look like?"

"Uh, he was blonde, a bit over your height," Jordan explains to her.

Elisha stares into space. Okay, as tense as the moment is, what is she doing?

"I think we can trust him," she finally says. Oh thank god.

"Uh, is anyone gonna tell me what's going on?" Jodie asks.

"I accidentally told a Career that we knew about their plan…" Jordan mumbles, turning away from Jodie slightly.

"Jordan, you idiot!" Jodie yells at her. Damn, I heard from Adam and Kevin about her random outbursts, but I didn't think she went _this_ crazy.

She goes to hit her over the head but Elisha grabs her arm. Nice reflexes, not like stereotypical blondes at all. Well, aside from when she sat on the front of the chariot while it was moving... And she thought the sugar cubes were for the tributes... Okay, so she's not exactly a genius...

"For fuck's sake, Jodie, I said you could trust the guy."

"Okay, so how come we can trust him?" Jodie asks her, raising her eyebrows.

"When I saw the Careers plotting, he wasn't contributing to their plans at all. He looked as if he didn't even want to be a part of their group."

"Uh, Elisha, no offence, but you don't exactly have the best judgement skills," Jordan tells her.

Okay, so judging by the weird and somewhat stupid things she's done, that's probably true... But with this she's right! Listen to her!


End file.
